All-natural decaffeinated coffee alternative 'basically grows like a weed,' says homesteader

New Hampshire homesteader Michelle Visser champions chicory as an all-natural alternative to chemically decaffeinated coffee.

"I make a tea from dried chicory root that tastes just like coffee," the author, podcaster and influencer (soulyrested.com) told Fox News Digital soon after her September harvest of the easy-to-grow leafy, flowering herb with thick, richly flavored roots. (See the video at the top of this article.)

"It's naturally caffeine free. A lot of coffee manufacturers add it into their blends to keep their prices down. But by itself, chicory [has] zero caffeine."

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She's grown chicory in her farm garden the past four years. The big broad leaves feed her pigs. The roots make a robust cup of faux joe – on National Coffee Day (Sept. 29) or any day of the year.

Chicory has long been touted for its medicinal benefits and, when steeped in water like tea – Visser calls it chicory tea – the coffee-like taste is unmistakable.

New Hampshire homesteader and digital influencer Michelle Visser of soulyrested.com touts homegrown chicory as the all-natural alternative to coffee that is often decaffeinated by controversial industrial processes.  (Michelle Visser/soulyrested.com)

The chicory coffee tradition is probably best known today by culinary landmark Café du Monde in New Orleans. 

Few tourists leave the Big Easy without enjoying deep-fried, sugar-powdered beignets at the riverside cafe, or return home without a distinctive bright yellow can of its chicory coffee.

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"Though the root has been cultivated since Ancient Egypt, chicory has been roasted, ground and mixed with coffee in France since the 19th century," Smithsonian Magazine wrote of the root in 2014. 

Chicory "traditionally was used on its own in tea or in medicinal remedies to treat jaundice, liver enlargement, gout and rheumatism."

Dried chicory from plants grown by New Hampshire influencer Michelle Visser. She uses chicory to make all-natural caffeine-free coffee. (Michelle Visser/soulyrested.com)

The industrial processes used to decaffeinate coffee have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, prompting Visser to show followers that there is an all-natural, homegrown alternative to Big Decaf.

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"The main concern is that one of the primary methods companies use to decaffeinate coffee involves methylene chloride, a solvent that has been linked to an increased risk of cancer and other adverse health effects," the Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation reported in August 2024. 

"There is no evidence that drinking decaffeinated coffee causes health problems," National Coffee Association CEO William Murray countered in the report. 

Chicory coffee is shown for sale in the gift shop of Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, Louisiana.  (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Visser eliminates any controversy by growing chicory at her New Hampshire home. Her industrious farming and do-it-yourself lifestyle fuels her "Simple Doesn't Mean Easy" podcast and her books. 

"It basically grows like a weed," she said, convinced that virtually anyone can raise chicory at home.

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Fifty plants, harvested in September after a brief New England summer, produce enough chicory root to make a year's worth of coffee, she said. 

A basket full of chicory root from homestead influencer Michelle Visser of soulyrested.com. She uses the root to make all-natural decaf coffee. (Michelle Visser/soulyrested.com)

The roots are chopped – "like chopping carrots" – then dried, roasted, finely chopped and steeped in hot water like tea. 

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"All I have to do is roast the chicory twice as long and then use it much like espresso," said Visser.

She brews the double-strength chicory into a big city-cafe array of creative coffees: lattes, mocha cappuccinos and frothy, icy frappes. 

Michelle Visser makes coffee, lattes and mocha frappes from homegrown chicory, a traditional all-natural substitute for decaffeinated coffee. (Michelle Visser/soulyrested.com)